Anime Spotlight #3

Coming courtesy of (some of) the same people who gave us Gurren Lagann and Kill la Kill, this specific Anime show delves into the occult while still trying pass itself off as harem + magical-girl kind of Anime.

For me, the girls were mainly “window-dressing” – for the most part. They usually weren’t all that entertaining on their own; their interest-factor was mainly provided by Jurai, the resident “chunibyou (Japanese for ‘eighth-grader syndrom’).”

Jurai obsesses over “powers” he claims to possess (that soon become very real), as well as various “word-magic” – as I’ll call it; the abilities he and his female friends receive need to be named in a specific way, even to the point where it causes one of the girls to think that he wants to be her boyfriend, but the best example here is the “nickname” he insists on being called:

Guiltia-sin Jurai.

The ability names are chosen based on the symbolism implied by the kanji when compared/contrasted to the katakana; however, his name is purely occult in meaning: “Guiltia” is from “guilt,” from the Old English verb gieldan = “to pay for/be in debt to” which also derives modern-day “yield” and “gold”; in essence, “guilt” originally meant a debt or payment. The word “sin,” in the name, is Germanic, from the root *sund- = “truth” from which the word “sooth” also derives; in other words, “sin” is “untruth” or a false truth (this jives with the original Hebrew word for sin, used in the Bible, meaning, essentially, “illusion”).

But, Jurai isn’t the only chunibyou in this Anime; there are, in fact, two boys with this trait. The other boy is Kiryou – his “nickname” is…:

Kiryou Hell-kaiser Luci-first.

Once again, we have an absolutely occult-laden title: “Hell” derives from Germanic *halyo = “underworld.” “Kaiser” is the German transliteration of Latin Caesar (the surname of the infamous, first Roman dictator Gaius Iulius Caesar). The “Luci-” part is “Lucifer,” which in Latin means “light-bringer.” Finally, “first” is quite straight-forward….

Yes, I found the “word-magic” more interesting than the other stuff that was going on in the series…! I did notice two allusions to Kill la Kill in the series, though: The boxer’s life-fibre gloves, which were worn briefly by one of the Lit-club girls, and a camio by Mako swimming in a pool.

Watching the show, I got the impression that the creators were seriously hoping to produce a second season; a lot of plot points were introduced in the series that are, as it is now, left annoyingly hanging. I’m hoping for a second season: I’d like to know how things end!